Elite cues and economic policy attitudes: the mediating role of economic hardship

Cavaille, C. and Neundorf, A. (2022) Elite cues and economic policy attitudes: the mediating role of economic hardship. Political Behavior, (doi: 10.1007/s11109-021-09768-w) (Early Online Publication)

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Abstract

Do voters update their attitudes toward economic issues in line with their material self-interest? The consensus among students of public opinion is that material self-interest plays a very limited role and that competing non-material factors, such as partisanship or ideological predispositions, do most of the heavy lifting. This paper moves beyond comparing the role of material and non-material factors. Instead, we examine how these factors combine to shape policy preferences. Specifically, we propose a friendly amendment to Zaller’s influential model according to which attitudinal change results from the interaction between changes in elite messaging on the one hand and individual political predispositions on the other. In Zaller’s model, partisanship and ideological predispositions help explain why some resist and others embrace new elite messaging. We hypothesize that material self-interest also conditions the effect of elite messaging. Using British individual-level panel data collected over more than a decade, we show that material hardship predicts who, among left-wing voters, resist new right-wing partisan cues. Our results highlights the incremental impact of material self-interest on economic attitudes.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Early Online Publication
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Neundorf, Professor Anja
Authors: Cavaille, C., and Neundorf, A.
College/School:College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Politics
Journal Name:Political Behavior
Publisher:Springer
ISSN:0190-9320
ISSN (Online):1573-6687
Published Online:12 January 2022
Copyright Holders:Copyright © The Author(s) 2022
First Published:First published in Political Behavior 2022
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence

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